How to Create and Edit Shapes in Affinity Designer

Posted on 20th June 2023

Affinity Designer is a vector drawing and design app for macOS, Windows, and iOS. It’s an excellent tool for creating illustrations, logos, icons, and complex graphics.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create and edit shapes in Affinity Designer. We’ll cover the following topics:

Creating shapes
Editing shapes
Combining shapes

Creating shapes

There are several ways to create shapes in Affinity Designer. You can use the Pen tool, the Rectangle tool, the Ellipse tool, or the Polygon tool.

To create a shape with the Pen tool, click the Pen tool in the toolbar. Then, click where you want the shape to start. As you move your mouse, you’ll see a preview of the shape. Click where you want the shape to end, and then release the mouse button.

To create a rectangle, click the Rectangle tool in the toolbar. Then, click and drag to create the rectangle. To create a square, hold down the Shift key as you click and drag.

To create an ellipse, click the Ellipse tool in the toolbar. Then, click and drag to create the ellipse. To create a circle, hold down the Shift key as you click and drag.

To create a polygon, click the Polygon tool in the toolbar. Then, click and drag to create the polygon. To create a star, hold down the Shift key as you click and drag.

Editing shapes

Once you’ve created a shape, you can edit it by using the Select tool. To select a shape, click the Select tool in the toolbar. Then, click the shape.

To move a shape, click the shape with the Select tool and then drag it to a new location.

To resize a shape, click the shape with the Select tool and then drag one of the handles. To constrain the proportions of a shape, hold down the Shift key as you drag a handle.

To rotate a shape, click the shape with the Select tool and then drag the rotation handle.

To delete a shape, click the shape with the Select tool and then press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Combining shapes

You can combine shapes by using the Boolean operations: Union, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude.

To combine shapes, select the shapes with the Select tool. Then, click the Boolean operation that you want to use in the toolbar.

Union combines the shapes into one shape.

Subtract removes the top shape from the bottom shape.

Intersect keeps only the overlapping part of the shapes.

Exclude keeps only the part of the shapes that is not overlapping.

In order to create a new shape in Affinity Designer, you need to first select the ‘Pen’ tool from the toolbar.

Once you have selected the ‘Pen’ tool, you can then click and drag on the canvas to create your desired shape. If you want to create a perfectly straight line, you can hold down the ‘Shift’ key while you click and drag.

If you want to create a curve, you can click and drag to create your first point, and then click and drag again to create your second point. To create a curve between these two points, you need to hold down the ‘Alt’ key while you click and drag the second point.

Once you have created your shape, you can then use the ‘Direct Selection’ tool to select individual points and edit them. To do this, simply click on the point that you want to edit and then drag it to the desired location.

If you want to add an additional point to your shape, you can use the ‘Add Anchor Point’ tool. To do this, simply click on the ‘Add Anchor Point’ tool and then click on the location where you want to add the new point.

You can also use the ‘Delete Anchor Point’ tool to remove points from your shape. To do this, simply click on the ‘Delete Anchor Point’ tool and then click on the point that you want to delete.

Once you have created your shape, you can then use the ‘Fill’ and ‘Stroke’ tools to add color to your shape. To do this, simply select the ‘Fill’ or ‘Stroke’ tool and then click on the color that you want to use.

You can also use the ‘Gradient’ tool to add a gradient to your shape. To do this, simply select the ‘Gradient’ tool and then click and drag on the canvas to create your gradient.

Once you have created your shape, you can then use the ‘Transform’ tool to resize and rotate your shape. To do this, simply select the ‘Transform’ tool and then click and drag on the corner of your shape to resize it. To rotate your shape, simply click and drag on the side of your shape.

You can also use the ‘ Warp’ tool to distort your shape. To do this, simply select the ‘Warp’ tool and then click and drag on the canvas to distort your shape.

Once you have created your shape, you can then save it as a ‘.afdesign’ file so that you can edit it later. To do this, simply go to File > Save As and then select the ‘.afdesign’ file format.

Rounding Corners

If you want to round the corners of your shapes, you can do so by selecting the “Rounded Corners” tool from the toolbar. Then, click and drag on the corners of your shapes to round them.

You can also use the “Corner Options” panel to round the corners of your shapes. To do this, select the “Corner Options” panel from the “Panels” menu. Then, select the “Rounded Corners” option and enter a value for the “Radius”.

Joining Shapes

If you want to join two or more shapes together, you can do so by selecting the “Join” tool from the toolbar. Then, click on the shapes that you want to join and click the “Join” button.

You can also use the “ Pathfinder ” panel to join shapes together. To do this, select the “ Pathfinder ” panel from the “Panels” menu. Then, select the “Join” option and click on the shapes that you want to join.

Exporting Shapes

If you want to export your shapes, you can do so by selecting the “File” menu and then selecting the “Export” option. Then, select the format that you want to export your shapes in and click the “Export” button.